


Keep My Wanting Small

by dharmaavocado



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Genderbending, various clones - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26431090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dharmaavocado/pseuds/dharmaavocado
Summary: Kenobi had cut her hair short, and Rex was so surprised she nearly walked into a wall.In which much ado is made about hair and the styling thereof.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/CT-7567 | Rex
Comments: 24
Kudos: 282





	Keep My Wanting Small

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from the Erin McKeown song _The Taste of You._

Kenobi had cut her hair short, and Rex was so surprised she nearly walked into a wall. The only thing that saved her was Cody with a well timed hip check. She still stumbled, which only drew both Kenobi and Skywalker’s attention.

“You all right, Rex?” Skywalker asked.

“Fine, sir,” she answered, thankful her bucket didn’t betray her expression. “The jump to hyperspace took me by surprise.”

It was the wrong thing to say because it caused what was mild concern to shift to alarm, which wasn’t exactly a huge leap given how she had a reputation for keeping her balance even in the worst of firefights. Hell, the only reason she even fell from that one wall was because Skywalker had the audacity to throw her off it.

“Are you injured?” Kenobi asked, and for one terrifying moment Rex thought Kenobi might actually pat her down.

“Like Kix would let out of medical if she was,” Cody said. “You know how Rex gets when she’s tired, sir. She’ll be fine.”

That was deeply embarrassing, and if Rex didn’t so desperately need the lifeline she would have protested and also tried to kick Cody in the shin.

Kenobi’s alarm vanished and was replaced with something softer, which was somehow made worse with the bits of hair curling over her forehead. “It was a long campaign. Go get some rest, Captain. We’ll reconvene in the morning.”

“I really am fine to continue, sir,” Rex said, ignoring the fact she’d been sealed in her armor for the better part of a month.

“Don’t look a krayt dragon in the mouth,” Skywalker said with a hard clap to her shoulder. “Grab some rack time before she changes her mind.”

“You do know that only applies to the good captain,” Kenobi said. “You still have your report to file.”

Skywalker’s theatrical groan faded as Cody dragged her away to the refresher, which was empty between shift changes. Cody hadn’t lied because Rex was exhausted, taking longer to unbuckle and unclip each bit of armor. She sat to deal with her leg greaves and couldn’t find it in her to stand again.

“Here,” Cody said, fingers searching out the pauldron clasp. Rex ducked her head as Cody pulled it off before going for her chest plate. “Are you hurt?”

“Just some bruises. Kix cleared me.” She gestured for Cody to turn around so she could return the favor. After that it was a matter of stripping out of the blacks underneath. Even the recycled air felt good against her skin.

“Move it,” Cody said, and herded her into the showers. As officers they received a water ration, and for once Rex didn’t feel guilty for taking advantage of it.

“Kenobi cut her hair,” she said, turning her face into the spray. “You must be happy.”

“About damn time. Ventress nearly took her head off the last time the braid came undone and hair got in her face.” Cody scrubbed cleanser through her own regulation cut. “Would have chopped it off myself if she hadn’t.”

“Pretty sure that would have earned you a blaster to the back.”

Kenobi’s hair was a source of fascination, both in color and length, and the opposite of how the sisters were told to keep theirs. Even Rex, who hated the feel of hair against the back of her neck, had idly wondered what it would be like to grow hers so long she could elaborately braid it or pile it atop her head.

“They wouldn’t dare,” Cody said.

Their water ration ended, and Rex caught the towel Cody tossed her. It felt damned good to be clean, and Rex found excuses to delay dressing again.

“Didn’t think you cared so much about hair, given your own,” Cody said in such a casual way that Rex immediately sensed a trap.

“I don’t.” She rubbed a hand over her buzz cut before giving in to the inevitable and pulling a shirt on. “Just making an observation. She looks different now.”

Cody’s eyebrows rose. “And how does she look?”

Like a sister, but Rex wasn’t dumb enough to admit that to Cody. Or the fact that without the distraction of the all that hair Rex could no longer ignore the line of Kenobi’s jaw or the frankly astonishing length of her neck. It was terrible.

“Just different,” Rex finally said when the silence dragged on a moment too long. She made a break for the door.

Cody stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “This going to be a problem, Captain?”

Rex straightened and said, “No, sir. It won’t be.”

“Good. Get out of here and get some sleep before I set Kix on you.”

“You’re a right bastard, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told,” Cody said, and smiled with all her teeth.

* * *

Rex hadn’t been lying. It wasn’t going to be a problem because she was an officer who was capable of being perfectly professional even when confronted by the bit of hair above Kenobi’s left ear that refused to lie flat.

“That can’t be regulation,” Skywalker said, taking delight in flicking it. “What will the troops think?”

Kenobi batted his hand away. “They’re unlikely to notice it next to your rat’s nest,” she said, clearly fond despite the irritation. “Did you brush it at all today?”

“It looks fine,” Skywalker protested, dragging his hand through his hair. “Rex, back me up.”

“I personally witnessed General Skywalker brushing it two weeks ago,” Rex said, which earned her an outraged squawk from Skywalker and an amused smile from Kenobi, and Rex had to find an urgent excuse to leave the room before she gave herself away.

It was even worse when Kenobi’s hair curled over her forehead every time she was exhausted but refusing to admit it. It made Rex want to do dangerous, impossible things like smooth it back into place.

It was an urge easily stifled, which meant that it was not a problem, and it kept not being a problem right up until fucking Omereth.

It wasn’t even a proper battle, not by Torrent standards. It was some backwater skugghole that didn’t even have enough strategic or tactical value to justify both Kenobi and Skywalker assigned to the assault team. Rex got the feeling politics were involved judging by the way sour twist of Kenobi’s mouth throughout the mission briefing

The reasons didn’t really matter when the end result was them spending the better part of a week trudging through knee deep mud while the local insect population did its best to find any exposed skin to bite. Even Kenobi, slapping yet another bug away, was looking haggard and irritated with the universe in general and Omereth specifically, a state that wasn’t helped by Cody comming them from _The Negotiator_ where she was coordinating the whole op.

“I don’t think the insects would be such a problem if you wore more armor, sir,” Cody said, smug as only a woman who hadn’t spent four days smelling of foul mud could be. “Rex seems to be faring much better.”

“Leave me out of this,” Rex said. Her scalp itched with sweat that didn’t completely dry in the humidity, and all she wanted was a shower and the ability to smell literally anything other than rotting vegetation.

“Thank you, Cody,” Kenobi said, and if she had been anyone else Rex would call that an eye roll. “Are you quite finished or is there anything else?”

“Nothing that can’t wait until you get back.” Cody glanced down to her pad. “The 32nd is in route to relieve you and finish the clean up. They’re set to arrive in thirteen hours.”

“They’ve certainly taken their time,” Kenobi said with an uncharacteristic pettiness.

Cody’s eyebrows rose, amused. “I’m sure they didn’t want to cut short your fun.”

“How considerate,” said Rex, who had her share of run-ins the sister in charge of the 32nd. It was enough to make her want to transfer Hardcase over. See how the major like dealing with her for a rotation or two.

“We’ll see you then, Commander,” Kenobi said, wiping a bit of sweat from her forehead and causing that damned forelock to curl further. “Make sure there’s water for the showers waiting for us.”

“I can’t promise anything,” Cody said like the shit she was.

Unimpressed, Kenobi cut the connection and looked towards base camp, which was an optimistic description of the sad grouping of temporary structures slowly sinking into the mud. They could not be off this skugghole fast enough.

“Have you seen Anakin?” Kenobi asked.

“He took Tano to go secure the outer perimeter, sir.” She’d been glad to see them go only because they were terrible at downtime and tended to rile the troops up. She’d sent Fives and Echo along just in case they ran into the stray clanker. “They’re due for a check-in.”

“Of course they are,” Kenobi said.

Rex pulled up Fives and Echo’s frequencies on her HUD but received no answer. She swore. “Apologies, sir. I’ve lost contact with them.”

Kenobi waved the apology away. “It’s not like Anakin hasn’t done this before.”

“It’s my job to keep track of him.”

Kenobi’s eyebrow rose in amusement. “I’m fairly certain babysitting is not part of your duties. It’s not your fault he doesn’t want to be found. And you keep better track of him than almost anyone, and I’m including myself in that.”

“If that’s true, sir,” Rex said, feeling her ears go red, “it’s only because I never had to deal with him as a padawan.”

“I’m sure those years would have gone easier if you had been there.”

It would have been less devastating if Kenobi had pulled out her lightsaber and slit her ribs open because Rex would have known what do then. But this—how was she supposed hold this in her?

“That’s very kind, sir,” she said, too soft to play it off as a lighthearted joke.

“Ah,” Kenobi said, blinking. Her cheeks were flushed from the heat. “Yes. Well. You’re quite welcome.”

She turned towards base camp, and this was when it became a goddamn problem because Rex found herself staring at the bared nape of Kenobi’s neck. She had never been in the position to admire it before as it had previously been hidden by the collar of Kenobi’s tunic or the long fall of her hair. But now here it was, covered in grime and sweat and sweetly vulnerable.

It would be so easy for someone to drive a knife right there, up through the skin and into the brain stem. It would take mere seconds. If she had been Ventress, Kenobi would already be dead.

But Rex was only herself, and so she reached out and laid her palm against Kenobi’s neck, covering the span of it and ensuring no harm would befall her.

Kenobi stiffened. “Rex?”

Oh.

Oh no.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“You had an insect on you, sir.” She briskly brushed her hand over Kenobi’s nape as if she were shooing away a bug. “It’s gone now.”

Kenobi cleared her throat. “I see. Thank you.”

“No problem, sir.”

Kenobi stared at her as if she was a bit of difficult encryption Kenobi just discovered the cipher for, and Rex desperately wished to remove her helmet and let Kenobi see—

Something exploded in the distance.

Kenobi sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “That would be Anakin.”

There was no reason for the disappointment curdling her stomach, and so Rex activated her comms.

“Now before you start,” Tano said, sounding winded. “We have everything under control.”

There was the sound of a blaster discharging. Kenobi sighed harder. “Gather a squad, Captain. We’re heading out.”

“Yes, sir.” To Tano, he said, “Send us your coordinates, and try not to die before we get there.”

Tano laughed. “For you, Rex, anything.”

If only, Rex thought sourly, and spun on her heel, barking orders as she followed Kenobi, the nape of her neck once more hidden under the folds of her tunic.

* * *

The explosion was limited to the one remaining clanker company, which meant they didn’t have to waste one more damned minute planestside. They actually remained on schedule and were back on _The Negotiator_ within a day, dragging their sorry selves to the refreshers. Either Kenobi put in a good word or Cody was feeling generous because Torrent got twice their scheduled water ration, and they put it to good use, a chorus of groans echoing through the showers as they washed away the grime. Tano joined them instead of taking advantage of the officer refresher, scraping the mud off her montrails and lekku with Jesse’s help.

When she first joined Torrent, she’d insisted on doing everything with them: bathing, eating, even claiming a bunk in the barracks, much to the sisters’ mounting irritation. It fell to Rex to take her aside and explain that while the sentiment was appreciated, clones needed time to themselves without any naturalborns present. And perhaps more important, the enlisted women needed to complain about officers, and that included Rex herself. On those days, Rex took advantage of the officer benefits and left the women to air their grievances amongst themselves.

Tano hadn’t understood at first but she came around, quickly developing a sense when to make herself scarce. Today was not one of the times, and she was happy to let Jesse fuss over her as they showered.

“You’re looking a little scruffy there, Captain,” Fives said, naked and unashamed but for a towel around her waist. She waggled a razor. “I’m just about done with Echo if you want next go.”

Fives, who turned out to have a steady hand and mastered even Kix’s complicated style, had taken up the part of barber. Her skills were mostly wasted on Echo, who’d been letting her hair grow ever since she joined Torrent. Even with Fives taking off the ends, it dipped under her jaw, and Rex suspected that half the reason she’d left it get so long was because Fives constantly had her hands buried in it.

Rex scrubbed a hand over her hair. The last time she sat still for Fives to take a razor to it had been—shit, before Agamar, and that was months ago. She was long overdue for a cut.

But she didn’t have to. Could take a page out of Echo’s book and let it grow until she was able to card her fingers through. She’d have to tie to back so it would fit under her helmet, but other sisters managed well enough, and it wasn’t like Rex was a stranger to adapting under fire thanks to Skywalker. She’d get used to it.

And longer hair would make her look different. Soften her brow, her jaw. Perhaps draw attention to the line of her neck the way her usual buzz cut never would.

Would Kenobi notice, then? Would it make her want to reach out and—

“Yeah, thanks,” she said, taking a seat to wait for her turn. “It’s gotten out of control.”

Fives made quick work, and soon Rex was sighing in relief as her hair fell away. She always felt better after a cut. More like herself, for good or ill.

“I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that,” Tano said, clean and half dressed in loose tunics. “It seems like more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Better than these things,” Hardcase said, flicking Tano’s left montrail. She winced and slapped Hardcase’s hand away, and soon the two of them were tussling and threatening to drag in the rest of the women.

Rex sighed, but before she could reprimand them, Jesse said, “Break it off before Cody finds out and takes away our water ration.”

It was not an idle threat—Cody didn’t believe in idle anything—and so they calmed down enough to finish dressing. Tano was following the rest of the women out when she groaned. “I forgot Master Obi-Wan asked me to drop off this report.” She shuffled back inside to scoop a pad out of her discarded soiled clothes.

“I’m sure it can wait,” Rex said.

“It’s been waiting two weeks.” Tano turned beseeching eyes on her. “Can you take it to her? If I do it she’s going to lecture me for at least an hour, and I really just want food and sleep.”

“The general wouldn’t do that,” she said, trying not to wince at the obvious lie. Kenobi, for all her virtues, had her share of faults, and one of those was assuming everyone else also lost track of time and appetite when presented with a bit of esoteric knowledge.

“Please, Rex?” Tano said, eyes somehow even larger. “I’ll handle all the requisition forms.”

“That’s your job anyway.” But she gave in with a sigh. “Fine, but you owe me one.”

“Add it to my tab,” Tano said with a suspiciously gleeful grin before making her escape.

Rex had the uneasy feeling she walked right into a trap, which was not helped by Hardcase’s consoling pat to her back as she said, “You’re a sucker, sir.”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Rex said.

“No, but you do.” Hardcase waggled her eyebrows in a lewd manner, and before Rex could even drawn breath to start handing out latrine duty, Jesse was already dragging her away with a mumbled apology.

Rex, too tired to deal with anything else, let them go with one last warning glare, and then dragged herself halfway across the ship to Kenobi’s quarters instead of finding her own bunk and sleeping for the next fifteen hours as she had planned.

Annoyed with Tano and herself, she rapped more sharply on Kenobi’s door than was warranted, and then a second time when Kenobi hadn’t answered.

“Oh for the love of— _what?”_ Kenobi snapped, and then drew up short. “Rex?”

Kenobi looked rumpled and disheveled, as if she’d just been rudely awakened, and Rex had to work hard not to swallow her tongue.

“Sorry to bother you, sir,” she finally managed, the words only slightly strangled. “Tano said you were waiting on this.” She held out the pad. Kenobi made no move to take it. “Sir?”

Kenobi shook herself. “Oh, yes. I thought she’d forgotten about it.”

“She probably did,” Rex agreed and only felt slightly bad at doing so; Tano had to learn somehow.

“Was there a reason she sent you instead of delivering it herself?” Kenobi took the pad and leaned against the doorjamb, tunics wrapped loose about her and hair once more curling over her forehead, looking like everything Rex was trying to ignore she wanted.

“She might have mentioned not wanting to get caught in a lecture.” She really wished there was a safe place for her to look.

“I sometimes forget how young she is,” Kenobi said, weary.

“Sir?”

For the second time Kenobi shook herself and said, “Would you like to come in for a cup of tea? I’m afraid I made too much again, and I hate for it to go to waste.”

“I prefer caf,” her stupid, traitorous mouth said, and because this was her life and nothing ever went the way she wanted, the Seps completely failed to spring a surprise attack and save her from herself.

“Rex,” Kenobi said, and Rex never knew the shape of her name could be so soft. “Come have tea with me.”

“Yes,” Rex said, because there was no other answer for her to give. “I’d like that.”

Kenobi smiled, and despite what Rex read in various holonovels, it was not like the sun coming up. It was, if anything, like the first time she went off planet for training, when the ship broke Kamino’s atmosphere and there was the endless stretch of black before her, boundless and impossible like it was made just for her.

Kenobi beckoned her to follow, and Rex could do nothing but, aware of the door closing at her back. Space was at a premium aboard _The Negotiator,_ and not even the High General got more than her fair share. It was larger than Rex’s own quarters, but not by much; there was perhaps an extra meter between bed and desk. The only real perk was the private refresher, and even that looked to only have enough room for one body.

“Take a seat wherever you like,” Kenobi said, and since the only options were the chair and the bed, Rex took the chair.

She was hyperaware of how near Kenobi was as she went about retrieving the teapot from the tray set at the corner of the desk and thus near Rex herself.

“May I pour for you?” Kenobi asked.

“Yes,” she said. Without her vambraces, Rex could see the skin of Kenobi’s wrist, pale from the lack of exposure to natural light. She swallowed.

“I’m assuming you take it with sugar,” Kenobi said wryly; there was no sister who would ever turn it down when offered. She scooped several teaspoons in and gave it a stir before passing over the cup. “It’s nothing fancy, I’m afraid.”

“This is fine.” The tea smelled good, but then it was never the smell Rex had issue with. “Thank you.”

“Oh, you’re welcome.” Kenobi prepared a cup for herself and took a seat on the bed. The leg of her pants rode up as she primly tucked her feet under her, and Rex couldn’t keep from staring at the knob of Kenobi’s ankle.

She felt flushed from the steam coming off the tea, and she took a sip so Kenobi wouldn’t think her rude. It was…fine. Not too bitter with the sugar, but nothing she’d search out on her own.

“You cut your hair,” Kenobi said.

She shrugged. “It was getting long.”

“Long,” Kenobi repeated, amused.

“Long for me.” She took another drink. It was still fine. “Nothing like yours.” She hesitated. “I don’t mean to pry, sir, but why did you cut it?”

“I don’t think we need to be so formal when it’s just us, do you?” Kenobi took a delicate sip as if she hadn’t just severed the last conversational anchor Rex had. “Do you know I kept my hair short for years even before the required padawan style. When I became Anakin’s teacher, I was so busy I kept forgetting to trim it. Anakin preferred it long. I think it reminded him of his mother, and it seemed a small sacrifice if it brought him a measure of comfort.”

“So why the change now?” Rex asked.

“You mean besides the fact if I hadn’t done it myself Cody would have?” Kenobi smiled. “I’ve always preferred it shorter, if we’re being honest. I feel more myself that way.”

“Oh,” Rex said, surprised. “It’s the same for me.”

“I thought it might be. I like your hair this way. It suits you.”

Her stomach dropped like she was back in zero g training. “Yours, uh, also suits you.”

“I’m glad you think so.” Kenobi leaned forward as if she passing on important intel. “I’ve gathered some of the troops feel differently.”

There was no accounting for taste, not even among her sisters, and it was their loss they couldn’t appreciate the way Kenobi’s new style twisted just so over her ears the way Rex did.

But as Rex was not actively seeking to be court-martialed, she took another drink before saying, “They’ll get over it.”

“They’ll have to as I have no plans of growing it out again. And, Rex, you don’t have to drink the tea if you don’t like it.”

“I like it,” she protested.

Kenobi’s eyebrow rose. “You keep making a face.”

Damn. She set the cup aside with a sigh. “I just don’t think it’s for me.”

Kenobi shrugged. “We all have different tastes. I do appreciate you trying.”

Silence lapped in, and Rex didn’t know what to say to make it ebb back out. It wasn’t like she and Kenobi never had conversations that had nothing to do with the war before. They talked about Kenobi’s latest holonovel recommendation or the way Cody acted as if she was the only one in the entire GAR who didn’t need sleep, but those conversations were had in the safety of the mess hall.

This was new and dangerous and Rex had no idea what it meant.

“Do you need anything?” Rex asked at the same time Kenobi said, “About earlier.”

They broke off and stared at one another. Rex nearly reached for the tea again just to occupy her hands.

Kenobi cleared her throat. “About what happened planetside.”

Rex stood so fast her knees popped in protest. “My apologies, sir. I have no excuse and will accept whatever punishment you deem fit to deliver.”

“Punish—that’s not what I meant.”

“Sir,” Rex said, hazarding a glance to where Kenobi was frowning thoughtfully up at her. “Permission to be dismissed.”

“Oh for—I think we can both agree we’re far past formalities at this point.”

Which meant Rex didn’t need permission to flee, and she was almost out the door when Kenobi used that blasted Jedi speed to grab her wrist before she could complete her escape.

“And here I thought the tea would relax you,” Kenobi said wryly. “I’ll go with caf next time.”

“I'm not sure what’s happening here,” Rex admitted.

“Well, it would help if you’d look at me.”

Rex gave in and let herself be pulled back into Kenobi’s quarters. Kenobi was standing very close, and Rex was acutely aware of where the pads of Kenob’s fingers rested against her pulse point.

“What are we doing?” Rex asked.

“I'm not sure,” Kenobi said. The curl was taunting her. “I think that’s what we get to decide. You took me by surprise on Omereth. That doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate your touch.”

“Oh,” Rex said, which while not eloquent was impressive given she felt she’d been hit by a concussive blast.

Kneobi patiently waited for more, and when it became obvious that Rex’s stupid, traitorous mouth chose now to have some goddamned sense, said, “I admire you beyond what I perhaps should, given our respective ranks, and I didn’t know for certain if that admiration was returned.”

Rex marshaled enough to say, “It is.” Then her sense fled again and she said, feeling oddly shy, “Obi-Wan.”

There was that smile again, something impossible that was meant for her. “I'm glad to hear that.” Obi-Wan’s head cocked to the side. “I must admit to how much I like your hair. May I?”

Rex nodded, and although she did not know what she was agreeing to, she trusted Obi-Wan enough not to care.

Obi-Wan smoother her fingers along the curve of her skull, the short hairs dragged along in her wake, and Rex shivered so hard Obi-Wan felt it. The smile became infinitely more dangerous.

“I’ve been wanting to do that ever since you showed up at my door,” Obi-Wan murmured, thumb tucked behind Rex’s ear for one sweet moment before Obi-Wan drew back. “It’s been terribly distracting.”

“I'm not apologizing,” Rex said.

“No? Then perhaps you can make it up to me.” She must have felt how Rex’s heartbeat kicked up, because Obi-Wan said, carefully, “But only if you want. I’m not going to pretend this will be easy, but I’m tired of not trying. I will never force anything upon you. You must know that.”

“Like you could,” Rex said, because there were few certainties in this way but she knew this: her sisters had her back and she had theirs, and Obi-Wan was too damn honorable for her own good.

“It still needs to be said,” Obi-Wan said, a heavy solemnity in her eyes.

Her heartbeat didn’t settle, but if Rex had earned her _jaig eyes_ by doing the dangerous and impossible once before then she could do it again, and so she gently reached up with her free hand and smoothed Obi-Wan’s errant curl back into place.

“It’s very distracting,” she said.

“My sincere apologies,” Obi-Wan said, and then she was rocking forward, one hand fisted in the front of Rex’s blacks, pulling her into a kiss.

It was perhaps not the best it could be. Their noses bumped and their teeth clacked, and Rex pulled back when her lip was in danger of splitting open.

“I thought you’d be better at this,” she said.

“I am,” Obi-Wan said, annoyed.

“That suggested otherwise.” Before Obi-Wan could scowl further, Rex settled her hand back along the nape of Obi-Wan’s neck and kissed her.

This time it went well. So well in fact that Rex saw no reason why she shouldn’t take her time and let Obi-Wan lick slow and sweet into her mouth before returning the favor. It was indulgent in the way so many things in Rex’s life weren’t allowed to be, and the noise Obi-Wan made as Rex tightened her grip just a shade on her neck made her stomach clench.

“Stay,” Obi-Wan said breathlessly when they drew back. “I’ll even make sure there’s caf for you.”

“Well, if there’s caf,” she said, and guided Obi-Wan to the bed, “how can I refuse?”

“Quite easily, if I recall,” Obi-Wan said because she was, as Cody so often pointed out, physically incapable of allowing anyone else to have the last word.

Obi-Wan’s mouth was back on hers, and just this once Rex decided to let her have it.

* * *

Torrent was halfway through their water rations when Obi-Wan strode into the refresher and said, “I hear you’re the woman to go to if I’m in need of a cut.”

“Uh,” said Fives, who had been working on Buck’s fade. Rex met her panicked look and shrugged. “I guess?”

“Excellent.” Obi-Wan took a seat on the bench. “I’ll have next go unless one of you is waiting?”

She was answered by a chorus of _no, sir_ ’s as the women grabbed for towels and clothes. They were more scandalized than the time that Skywalker, dead on his feet with exhaustion, had accidently stumbled into the refresher. There had been a lot of catcalling on Torrent’s part and it’d been another week before Skywalker was able to look any of them in the eye again.

Prim and proper Obi-Wan, apparently, had to be protected from accidental nudity. Rex snorted; if only they knew.

“Are you sure, sir?” Fives said once she finished with Buck. “I thought you liked it longer.”

Obi-Wan’s hair had grown out unevenly with the sides remaining relatively short while the back was long enough to cover the back of her neck. Rex had seen her fussing with it enough times to know how much she hated it.

“Absolutely not,” Obi-Wan said. “Can’t stand it. Take it off, would you? There’s a good woman.”

When Fives still hesitated, Rex said, “You heard the general. Take it off.” She caught Obi-Wan’s gaze. “She’s not herself like this.”

“Captain Rex is correct,” Obi-Wan said, and smiled in a way that still made Rex want the impossible. “I’m not myself like this.”

And because this was her life, Rex didn’t have to settle for wanting; she got to have it.

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes you're working on a longer and much more thematically heavier piece and just want to write a short genderbend fic no longer than 2k and then 5k and one significant theme later you realize you're a parody of yourself. These things happen.
> 
> Also let's pour one out for Rex when Obi-Wan inevitably gets an undercut.
> 
> As always you can find me over on [tumblr](https://dharmaavocado.tumblr.com/).


End file.
